Construction arrangement introduced in a refrigerator

ABSTRACT

The present utility model patent describes a novel construction arrangement introduced in a refrigerator that is free of snapping sounds. To that end, at least one film ( 5 ) made of flexible material, which is specifically disposed between at least one contact interface defined between at least one substantially flat face ( 21 ) of at least one internal housing ( 2 ) and at least one substantially flat face ( 41 ) of at least one thermal insulating layer ( 4 ) is provided. As a result, the construction arrangement introduced in a refrigerator provides at least one substantially flat face ( 21 ) of at least one internal housing ( 2 ) originally free of physical contact with its respective substantially flat face ( 41 ) of at least one thermal insulating layer ( 4 ).

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present utility model patent relates to a new constructionarrangement introduced in a refrigerator, which is intended to reducenoises caused by detachment of fixed parts of refrigerators.

More particularly, the construction arrangement now disclosed isintended to prevent the detachment between the inner housing and thethermal insulation material that is normally injected between saidinternal housing and the structural cabinet of refrigerators and similarappliances.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Generally, refrigerators and similar appliances are devices intended forrefrigerating or freezing foodstuffs.

Conventionally and as is known to the skilled person, a refrigeratorbasically comprises a refrigerating system and an operational/structuralbody which defines at least one climate-controlled compartment, whichcan be a refrigerating compartment or a freezing compartment.

In this regard, said operational/structural body is known to be definedby the combination between at least one internal housing and at leastone structural cabinet.

Usually, the internal housing, which delimits the arrangement and thevolume of at least one climate-controlled compartment, is made of apolymeric alloy by means of already known thermalforming methods. Thestructural cabinet, in turn, comprises the outer structure of arefrigerator. In addition to having a structural function, thestructural cabinet is commonly used to define aesthetic aspects of arefrigerator as well.

It is further noted that usually at least one internal housing (asdiscussed above) is fixedly disposed in the inner area of the structuralcabinet. As is known to the skilled person, said fixation is made byapplying a polyurethane foam between the internal housings and thestructural cabinet. It is further noted that said polyurethane foam alsoprovides thermal insulation characteristics.

However, due to different dilatation coefficients the interface definedbetween the (already hardened) polyurethane foam and internal housingsurfaces tends to disappear along the shelf life of refrigerators. Thatis to say, contact surfaces between the polyurethane foam surface andthe internal housing surfaces tend to detach from each other.

Said detachment may cause several consequences to the refrigerator,which are directly related with the specific area where it takes place.

When noted in corners, edges and non-flat surfaces, detachment ofcontact faces between the polyurethane foam surface and the internalhousing surfaces tends to mechanically weaken the detached areas of theinternal housing causing fractures, cleavages or in biggercircumstances, cracks. These fractures, cleavages and cracks areextremely detrimental to thermal efficiency of the refrigerator andfurther reduce its shelf life.

In this regard, it is worth noting that the current state of the artprovides solutions that are potentially capable of mitigating theaforementioned drawbacks (especially associated with detachment ofcorners, edges and non-flat surfaces of internal housings). Among thesesolutions, those described in documents U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,739, U.S.Pat. No. 4,707,401, U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,174, U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,55,U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,631 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,950 are important.

Generally speaking, solutions described in said documents are intendedto prevent cleavages, fractures and cracks from occurring in thecorners, edges and non-flat surfaces of internal housings. Basically,each of these documents describe a technique for the localizedapplication of an intermediate material between the interfacespecifically defined between the corners, edges and non-flat surfaces ofinternal housings and the respective polyurethane foam contact surfaces.

Moreover, some of these documents describe that the intermediatematerial used between the interface specifically defined between thecorners, edges and non-flat surfaces of internal housings and therespective polyurethane foam contact surfaces further reduces chemicalcorrosion that can exist on these interfaces.

When observed on mostly flat faces, detachment of the contact facesbetween the polyurethane foam surface and surfaces of the internalhousing tends to generate snapping sounds (noises that occur even if therefrigerator is off). Functionally speaking, these noises do not notablydamage thermal efficiency of the refrigerator.

Nevertheless, these noises are extremely unfavourable with regard to theusers' perception. This is because most of users who hear these noisesthink that there is a malfunction in the refrigerator or even that therefrigerator is damaged.

Solutions to attenuate, mitigate or remove noises caused by thedetachment of the mostly flat contact faces between the polyurethanefoam surface and the internal housing surfaces of refrigerators are notknown. It is intuitively observed that the lack of technical solutionsto this end is due to the fact that, as mentioned above, this feature(snapping sounds and their causes) does not represent a noticeableimpairment to thermal efficiency of the refrigerator.

Based on this context, the present utility model patent is provided.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, one of the objects of the present utility model is to providea construction arrangement introduced in a refrigerator, which isessentially free of the aforementioned snapping sound.

Therefore, one of the objects of the instant invention is to provide arefrigerator where the mostly flat contact faces between the surface ofthe polyurethane foam and surfaces of the internal housing areoriginally free of physical contact, that is, originally detached fromeach other.

Lastly, one of the objects of the invention is that said constructionarrangement introduced in a refrigerator can be produced industrially.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and further objects are achieved by means of the constructionarrangement introduced in a refrigerator disclosed herein.

Said construction arrangement introduced in a refrigerator, according tothe teachings of the present utility model patent, comprises at leastone internal housing and at least one structural cabinet, wherein atleast one thermal insulating layer is further disposed between at leastone internal housing and at least one structural cabinet.

The construction arrangement introduced in a refrigerator furthercomprises at least one film made of flexible material, which isspecifically disposed between at least one contact interface definedbetween at least one substantially flat face of at least one internalhousing and its respective area of at least one thermal insulatinglayer.

Preferably, the film that is specifically disposed between at least onecontact interface defined between at least one substantially flat faceof at least one internal housing and its respective area of at least onethermal insulating layer is made of flexible polymeric material, and canbe optionally applied as an adhesive to at least one substantially flatface of at least one internal housing.

Therefore, the present construction arrangement introduced in arefrigerator is different from the further prior-art refrigerators(refrigerators described in documents U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,739, U.S. Pat.No. 4,707,401, U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,174, U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,55, U.S.Pat. No. 3,960,631 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,950 being included therein)in that it provides at least one substantially flat face of at least oneinternal housing, which is originally free of physical contact with itsrespective area of at least one thermal insulating layer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present utility model patent will be explained in detail in thefigures to follow, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exploded perspective and schematic view of arefrigerator in accordance with the present utility model patent; and

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic view of a cut-away of the refrigerator inaccordance with the present utility model patent.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As previously mentioned, the main object of the instant invention is toattenuate, mitigate or remove snapping sounds caused by the detachmentof the internal housing flat faces with their respective contact areasfrom the thermal insulator conventionally disposed between said internalhousing and the structural cabinet.

In this regard, the idea is to provide a means to obtain a refrigeratorwhere the substantially flat faces of its internal housings areoriginally free of physical contact with their respective contact areaof the thermal insulating layer.

The means responsible for the lack of contact may be schematicallyviewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of theinstant construction arrangement introduced in a refrigerator.

FIGS. 1 and 2 then illustrate a refrigerator 1 consisting essentially ofa single internal housing 2 (however, the instant invention is equallyapplicable to refrigerators provided with multiple internal housingsincluding more conventional constructions which have two internalhousings, one for the freezer and another one for the refrigerator) anda single structural cabinet 3, wherein a thermal insulating layer 4 isalso provided between them. These features are common and already knownto the person skilled in the art.

The internal housing 2 refers to a plastic part having recesses whichdefine the climate-controlled compartments of the refrigerator 1. Saidinternal housing 2 comprises corners, edges and substantially flat faces21. In general, the substantially flat faces 21 are found on the sidewalls, top wall, lower wall and the lower wall of the internal housing2.

The structural cabinet 3 refers to the outer component of therefrigerator 1 and, as extensively reported by documents belonging tothe current state of the art, comprises a fundamentally metallic body.

The thermal insulating layer 4, as also taught in the current state ofthe art, refers to expanded polyurethane.

In addition to providing thermal insulation, the thermal insulatinglayer 4 also has a structural function.

Since the main idea of the present construction arrangement introducedin a refrigerator concerns the lack of contact between substantiallyflat faces 21 of the internal housing 2 with their respective areas 41of the thermal insulating layer 4, there are provided films 5specifically disposed between the contact interface defined between thesubstantially flat faces 21 of the internal housing 2 and theirrespective areas 41 of the thermal insulating layer 4.

Films 5 are preferably made of flexible polymeric material, however,they also can be made of several compliant materials, such as forexample, polyethylene.

The introduction of films 5 between substantially flat faces 21 of theinternal housing 2 and their respective areas 41 of the thermalinsulating layer 4 causes these elements not to physically contact eachother, therefore, when they are dilated or retracted (due to thermalchanges of the refrigerator 1) they cannot be displaced, since they areoriginally detached. This aspect is essential for attenuation ofsnapping sounds.

With regard to the attachment of the film 5 to the substantially flatfaces 21 of the internal housing 2, different known methods can be used.

Among the simplest methods, one notes that the film 5 can be applied asan adhesive (affixed using adhesives) on said substantially flat faces21 of the internal housing 2. Nevertheless, this option is notlimitative, as the film 5 could also be co-injected with the internalhousing 2, for example.

After describing one example of a preferred embodiment of the presentconstruction arrangement introduced in a refrigerator, it should beappreciated that the scope thereof contemplates other possiblevariations, which can be found in the content of the claims, includingpossible equivalent means.

1. A construction arrangement introduced in a refrigerator, comprising:at least one internal housing (2) and at least one structural cabinet(3); at least one thermal insulating layer (4) disposed between at leastone internal housing (2) and at least one structural cabinet (3); theconstruction arrangement introduced in a refrigerator beingCHARACTERIZED in that it further comprises: at least one film (5)specifically disposed between at least one contact interface definedbetween at least one substantially flat face (21) of at least oneinternal housing (2) and the respective area (41) of at least onethermal insulating layer (4).
 2. The construction arrangement introducedin a refrigerator of claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the film (5) is madeof a flexible polymeric material.
 3. The construction arrangementintroduced in a refrigerator of claim 1, CHARACTERIZED in that the film(5) is applied as an adhesive to at least one substantially flat face(21) of at least one internal housing (2).
 4. The constructionarrangement introduced in a refrigerator of claim 1, CHARACTERIZED inthat the at least one substantially flat face (21) of at least oneinternal housing (2) is originally free of physical contact with itsrespective area (41) of at least one thermal insulating layer (4).